"Greg's collection of the best and worst decisions in history is a practical, nuanced and timeless guide for today's decision-makers."—Mark Schortman, Chairman, Coca-Cola Bottlers Sales & Services, LLC Can today's leaders look to history when making tough decisions? Whether you're running a small team or an international enterprise, all leaders know the feeling of facing a tough choice. It's impossible to see into the future to predict how our decisions play out, but we can look to the momentous decisions of the past for insights on how profound choices are made. Each decision made by influential figures, from Alfred Nobel and Marie Curie to Martin Luther King, Jr., and The Beatles, have shaped our world—and now they can help you make the decisions that will determine the direction of your organization. Guiding you through fifty-two dramatic historical events and decisions that changed the course of our world, How Leaders Decide challenges decision-makers with provocative ideas and leadership lessons that will propel your business forward. Greg Bustin's well-researched and inspiring stories of high-stakes turning points in history and the leaders that made the final call will help you make sure your next decision is the one that changes everything. How Leaders Decide is an essential book for readers of Start with Why and Leaders Eat Last! Additional Praise for How Leaders Decide: "Exceptional leaders are lifelong learners, and Greg has collected, organized and presented these leadership lessons to stimulate learning, inform decision-making, and inspire action. This is a book that all teams and business leaders should read."—Elizabeth Bryant, Chief Learning Officer, Southwest Airlines "Talk about the perfect combination! In How Leaders Decide, Greg Bustin combines fascinating history with succinct leadership insights to showcase 52 of the greatest leadership decisions the world has seen"—Gordon Leidner, author of The Leadership Secrets of Hamilton

Discover the formula used by twenty-one of the world’s most extraordinary leaders to make consistent and smart decisions. How do the wise decide and lead businesses and organizations to great success is the question Bryn Zeckhauser and Aaron Sandoski posed to themselves after landing their first jobs as managers. Despite the best training the world could offer—Harvard MBAs and stints at McKinsey & Company, the elite powerhouse consulting firm—they felt unprepared when faced with the pressure to make critical decisions. So they set out on a three-year quest to discover how people with remarkable success and experience in both corporate and public life—“the wise”—went about making crucial, often make-or-break decisions. • How did William George, when CEO of Medtronic, get the real story about why a critical tool used by cardiologists was failing and use that information to fix a systemic problem within the company? • When inventor Dean Kamen has to make a decision about investing in a new technology, why does he find it useful to “fill a room with barbarians” to get the best thinking from his team? • How did Shelly Lazarus assess the risks of making a nontraditional career move, a decision that eventually led her to being appointed CEO? • How did Stephen Schwarzman and Peter Peterson, the founders of The Blackstone Group, turn $400,000 of their own money into one of the world’s preeminent alternative asset managers with $100 billion under management? These and the other accounts of the direct conversations Zeckhauser and Sandoski had with twenty-one major leaders show that between wise decisions and poor ones lie vast fortunes and extraordinary contrasts in success. How the Wise Decide distills their wisdom, and it reveals how you can use this wisdom to be on the winning side of the ledger.

Success boils down to one thing: making good decisions. Learn the right framework now that can make all the difference later when faced with terrible options, deep anxiety and fear of failure. Access the decision framework David Siegel used when he took over as CEO of Meetup, the world’s leading platform for making connections and finding your community. Let David’s success during one of the most tumultuous times in his company’s history help guide you on your own path. Decide and Conquer helps all leaders navigate the big decisions that will impact their future and make their organizations a success. David outlines the 44 challenges leaders face when starting a new position, then shows you the decision framework he applied to overcome challenges in his own role. David takes you on an epic journey of corporate and personal survival that includes industry titans like Adam Neumann, Barry Diller, Jack Welch, Bill Ackman, and other leaders. In Decide and Conquer, you will learn to: Apply principles like open communication, transparency, and kindness to inform great decision making. Set yourself up to succeed, even before you start, by removing potential roadblocks before they become a problem. Be a bold and decisive leader and not succumb to fear. By applying the principles he had learned in previous leadership positions, David was able to make the many critical decisions that would mean life or death for Meetup when WeWork decided to sell the company. From deciding to accept the position and negotiating terms to managing a seemingly endless series of crises during the sale and global pandemic, Decide and Conquer walks readers through the key decisions they will face with invaluable advice for each one.

The first book to use the unexpected discoveries of neuroscience to help us make the best decisions Since Plato, philosophers have described the decision-making process as either rational or emotional: we carefully deliberate, or we “blink” and go with our gut. But as scientists break open the mind’s black box with the latest tools of neuroscience, they’re discovering that this is not how the mind works. Our best decisions are a finely tuned blend of both feeling and reason—and the precise mix depends on the situation. When buying a house, for example, it’s best to let our unconscious mull over the many variables. But when we’re picking a stock, intuition often leads us astray. The trick is to determine when to use the different parts of the brain, and to do this, we need to think harder (and smarter) about how we think. Jonah Lehrer arms us with the tools we need, drawing on cutting-edge research as well as the real-world experiences of a wide range of “deciders”—from airplane pilots and hedge fund investors to serial killers and poker players. Lehrer shows how people are taking advantage of the new science to make better television shows, win more football games, and improve military intelligence. His goal is to answer two questions that are of interest to just about anyone, from CEOs to firefighters: How does the human mind make decisions? And how can we make those decisions better?

How to make better decisions and achieve your goals What shapes a person's career and life, and defines them as a leader? Their decisions. We all want to be more productive and deliver our best results. But doing this effectively—and consistently over time—is a significant challenge. Managing it all is hard, and leading in today's hyper-paced world is even harder. The good news is that leadership expert Steve McClatchy makes it easier. In Decide, McClatchy—who works with Fortune 1000 people every day to help them achieve outstanding levels of performance—shows you how to cut through the complexities and excuses to start realizing real gains simply by changing one thing: the way you make decisions. With McClatchy's help, you can quickly begin to: Use the time you have each day to move your business and your life forward Make decisions that yield better results Waste less time, reduce stress and regain balance Again and again, McClatchy has helped people learn for themselves how great decision-making habits yield a lifetime of accomplishments. Follow McClatchy's no-nonsense and practical approach, and you'll soon manage—and even lead—at your highest level of personal performance.

-Identify your critical decisions. Focus on those that matter most to your company's performance. --

We are all capable of leadership. But it can be hard to know where to start. We wait to be told to lead, or until we're promoted to justify our ability. We don't have to wait. We can make the decision to lead in whatever way makes sense for us. We can further enhance our leadership development through expanding our awareness, by taking initiative to practice and then looking to those you trust, to those you lead, and to yourself to evaluate your efforts. Through the author's real-life stories, research, and practice, this book provides detailed ways you can develop your Leadership Brand and map your decisions to support it within all aspects of your life in living a Leadership Lifestyle. Discover what's limiting your leadership potential and where you can truly find ways to lead in your life. This book is also for those of you who sometimes need a reminder about how you can take action from within the trap of mediocrity directly through your decisions. Challenge yourself: Will you decide to lead today?